African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 687 - 375 Land of Fish and Rice

Recently, Constantine hasn’t been idle. Of course, with age, most of his energy has been spent traveling around various parts of East Africa.

Starting from First Town, he changed vehicles at Dodoma to head north, passed through Mwanza, and finally arrived in West Great Lake Province.

The government of West Great Lake Province is located in Bujumbura, at the southwesternmost part of the province. Therefore, Constantine was greeted by officials from the Kagela City government on this occasion.

Kagela City is a port city situated on the shores of the Great Lake. Its name is derived from the Kagela River, which is the river’s entry point into the lake (equivalent to a harbor).

The Kagela River flows into Lake Victoria, approximately 400 kilometers long. It’s the largest water source for Lake Victoria. The Kagela River is formed by the confluence of two branches, extending from what used to be within Burundi’s borders and flowing into Tanzania before reaching Lake Victoria.

As the water source for the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), the Kagela also marks the origin of the Nile River, making the entire length of the Nile an astonishing 6,670 kilometers, surpassing the Amazon River.

West Great Lake Province serves as an important granary in East Africa and is a focal area for water conservancy projects, with the Kagela Basin being one of the key regions for improvement.

"The upstream of the Kagela River passes through mountainous areas, while the downstream is the Kagela Basin. Though relatively flat, it’s characterized by swampy wetlands and rivers. After more than a decade of governance and the momentum of national water conservancy construction, we’ve sorted out the river network downstream of the Kagela Basin. This also involved managing the swampy wetlands by widely planting crops like rice, resulting in more than eighty percent of high-quality farmland throughout the city, thus making Kagela City rightfully known as East Africa’s grain and fish paradise."

Without Lake Victoria, the entire Great Lake (Lake Victoria) basin essentially presents a nondescript basin terrain, flanked by the East African Rift on both sides with elevated terrain in the middle collapsing.

In such terrain, rivers on both sides of the Great Lake ultimately converge into the lake, forming a large lake basin, with the only breach being the Owen Falls on the north side, which becomes the White Nile downstream.

With abundant water sources, the grain production in the Kagela Basin ranks among the top in East Africa.

"Your fields here appear very orderly, and they’re all paddy fields with crisscrossing rivers and dense vegetation throughout, a rare sight even in other regions of East Africa. It would be considered top-notch even in Europe," Constantine praised.

This was his genuine opinion. There is a notable difference between rural areas in Kagela City and those on the eastern coast. Although the coastal plains also have advantageous conditions, the water volume is significantly lesser than in the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) basin.

This can be seen from the crops they grow. The eastern coastal plains feature a diverse range of crops, including wheat, rice, various fruits and vegetables, and sisal.

The crops in Kagela City are somewhat monotonous, dominated by vast tracts of rice fields and windmills. From afar, it resembles countries like the Netherlands in Europe, except that while the Netherlands also boasts quality pastures, Kagela City primarily relies on rice farming. With its dense river networks, the term "grain and fish paradise" truly befits Kagela City.

Moreover, Kagela City outshines with its picturesque scenery. In comparison, the eastern coastal plains exhibit distinct tropical savanna climate traits, appearing rugged and vibrant, especially noticeable in coastal areas like Dar es Salaam and Bajamojo.

The officials of Kagela City gladly accepted Constantine’s praises, recognizing that Kagela City, as a crucial area ensuring East Africa’s food security, indeed makes outstanding contributions.

"Your Majesty, the achievements of Kagela City today could not have been possible without the strong support and correct guidance of the Central Government. The national water conservancy projects, for instance, have greatly accelerated the agricultural development of Kagela City. Before then, the arable land utilization rate was less than thirty percent. With this immense assistance, our city’s arable land utilization has exceeded seventy percent."

"Agricultural development in Kagela City is not easier than in other regions. In the early days, agricultural development in the savanna regions progressed faster than in the Great Lakes area. However, the Great Lakes area, especially Kagela City, faced challenges due to terrain and river-related drainage issues, with vast areas of swamps and wetlands. The initial development could be quite challenging."

"Later, supported by theoretical guidance from technical personnel, we managed the wetlands across the region, dredging the water systems in swamp areas to open channels for wetland water flow into the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), building canals, and installing windmills, transforming most of the wetlands into arable rice fields."

"Simultaneously, in the context of national water conservancy construction, we conducted comprehensive management on major rivers and lakes within the territory to enhance the regulatory capacity of lakes on rivers and climate."

"In doing so, the navigability of rivers was enhanced. Take the Kagela River, for example. Previously, its navigational capacity was less than a hundred kilometers, but now it reaches two hundred kilometers, extending upstream to Muyinga City. Additionally, the Kagela River system has become the most important transportation route for Kagela City. In Kagela City, it enters the Great Lake (Victoria) and, through lake shipping, transitions to Kisumu City, supplying the northern industrial belt. From Mombasa City, it’s exported, or it docks at Mwanza City, transits to Dodoma, and finally integrates into the Central Railway Main Line, supporting grain supply to railway line development areas."

In fact, there’s also a railway connection from Mwanza City to Kagela City, a segment of the Central Railway branch line from Dodoma to Bujumbura, although railway transport is ultimately less favorable than water transport.

Listening to the Kagela City government, Constantine gained a rudimentary understanding of Kagela City’s development over the years. He said, "Kagela City is primarily an agricultural city and indeed lags behind those major industrial towns or comprehensive cities in East Africa. After all, it’s the industrial era now, but industry is built upon a booming agriculture. Kagela City, as a port city, should fully leverage its advantages to contribute to ensuring East Africa’s food security and food exports."

The officials of Kagela City assured, "Your Majesty, we pledge not to disappoint. However, with the annual rise in grain output, our shortcomings have also become quite obvious: a shortage of grain processing equipment, a lack of related factories. Most of the grain, once harvested, has to be sent to Mwanza City and Kisumu City for processing."

"A skillful woman cannot cook without rice"—solely developing agriculture, Kagela City’s future prospects would indeed be dim. Comprehensive cities like Mombasa and Dar es Salaam are goals for almost all East African cities.

Of course, the Kagela City government is quite self-aware. To speak of ports, Kagela City indeed possesses one, though it’s merely a lake port and not a seaport, significantly diminishing its value.

Then there’s resources. Thus far, Kagela City hasn’t discovered any special resources, primarily due to the agricultural tasks limiting its geological explorations and other activities. As East Africa’s grain production base, it’s primarily tasked with grain cultivation as the focal point.

Regarding resources, other regions in East Africa, especially the central three provinces, are notably rich, whereas the Great Lakes area lacks these conditions, hence industrial development tasks are not assigned to Kagela City.

Thus, seizing this opportunity during Constantine’s visit, the Kagela City government proactively brought up their challenges, mainly advocating for the establishment of a set of industries related to agricultural food processing within Kagela City,